First Taishan EPR completes cold tests

01 February 2016

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Cold function tests have been completed at unit 1 of the Taishan nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province. The unit is expected to start up in the first half of next year and will be the first EPR reactor to begin operating.

Taishan 1 under construction (Image: CGN)

The tests were completed at 11.30pm on 27 January, China General Nuclear (CGN) announced the following day. The company said the milestone marks "the world's first cold test to be completed on the EPR nuclear power plant".

Cold performance tests include the initial start-up of fluid systems and support systems. The objective of this stage is to obtain initial operational data on equipment, ensure compatibility of operation with interfacing systems and verify the functional performance of these systems.

China's National Nuclear Safety Administration carried out on-site inspections and evaluations at Taishan 1 between 21 and 24 December, and issued a permit on 29 December for the cold function tests to be conducted. The tests began the following day.

Taishan 1 has been under construction since 2009 and is expected to start up in the first half of 2017, while Taishan 2 is scheduled to begin operating by the end of that year.

Taishan 1 and 2 are the first two reactors based on Areva's EPR design to be built in China. They form part of an €8 billion ($8.7 billion) contract signed by Areva and CGN in November 2007. The Taishan project - 140 kilometres west of Hong Kong - is owned by the Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company Limited, a joint venture between EDF (30%) and CGN.

The first-of-a-kind EPR at Finland's Olkiluoto plant has been under construction since 2005 and has seen several revisions to its start-up date, which is now expected by 2018. The Flamanville EPR in France, construction of which began in 2007, is now expected to start up in late 2018.